Running Afowl
by anonymous1222
Summary: During a visit to Earth Holly contracts a rare disease due to a ritual gone wrong. Humans are immune to it, but it's highly contagious amongst the People so Holly is forced to stay on the surface and live as a human while a cure is researched. AXH
1. Chapter 1

"Holly," a twenty year old Artemis impatiently knocked on the door, "I understand that the female sex takes a longer time to get ready, but this is just ridiculous."  
"Fuck you, Fowl," the fairy snarled through the bathroom door, "I am NOT wearing this monstrosity."

"Holly," Artemis shook his head, "I understand that you're not used to this type of attire, but I am sorry to say that it is all we have that fits you. Besides, you don't see me complaining."

"Bullshit," she screamed, "you know damned well that that isn't the reason for this. You could easily have ordered something that I'd be more comfortable in. And I don't give a shit about how you feel in your clothes. At least you got to pick them out."  
"Perhaps," Artemis smiled, "but would I ever pass an opportunity like this up?"

She sighed on the other side of the door; "I suppose not," Artemis heard her clothes fall to the floor as she changed into a more human fashion. She stepped out of the bathroom, "Happy?" she asked, not making eye contact.

"Extremely," Artemis said, "it's not every day I get to see you in a skirt," he scanned the elf. Jean skirt about two inches above her knees, reasonably short considering her height, and a plain pink t-shirt. "Aren't you forgetting something?" he tapped her on the ears.

"Are you serious?" she said, "it's broiling outside."  
"Do you want your status as a fairy exposed?"  
"Fine," she reluctantly went back into the bathroom, grabbed the beanie hat, and put it on her head effectively covering her pointed ears, "can we go?"

"Not quite," Artemis pulled out a pen and held it up.

"What?" Holly said with a snigger, "you gonna write this moment in your little diary?"

"Not quite," Artemis pushed the top of the pen and it emitted a bright flash.

"You little shit," she said as she lunged for the camera-pen. However, Artemis' height advantage proved too much for Holly to overcome. "You realize I know countless ways to kill you, right?"

"Yes I do," he pocketed the pen, "but do you realize that I'm not a pre-pubescent boy fighting against the fairies? I've gotten a lot smarter since those days, Holly." She couldn't deny it. She had, somewhat reluctantly, watched this boy grow, both physically and mentally…Well, mostly mentally at least. Sure, he had grown significantly taller since his teen years, but he was still the scrawny weakling he was back then. It would be easy for her to take him down and steal the pen. "I've made sure to have back-up plans for any and every situation. For example, if you refuse to go out in those clothes, that photograph will be displayed on every monitor at the LEP." she tackled him and took the pen from his pocket. He didn't even put up a fight.

"Well isn't that too bad," she said as she stood up. He still didn't react to the stolen pen, "looks like your backup plan failed," she took the pen in both hands and snapped it in half. She smiled wickedly at him. "What now, Fowl?"

"Like I said," he said as he got to his feet, "a backup plan for any and every situation."

The smile disappeared from Holly's face as she realized what had just happened, "No…No you didn't."

* * *

Vinyáya was pissed off enough as it was having to deal with a huge stack of papers on her desk. It didn't help that a strange medley of laughter, shouting, and cheering suddenly burst out everywhere. "What the hell is happening out there?" Vinyáya said, too wiped out from the tedious paperwork to do anything.

Suddenly Foaly entered her office, "Foaly," she leaned forward on her desk, putting her head in her hands, "what's going on?"

"Um…well…about that. It might be better if I showed you," the centaur walked up to her desk and cleared some papers away so that he could get at he computer. He turned it on.

Vinyáya turned to the centaur, unsure of what to make of this, "Foaly, is this—"

"It's legitimate," he finished, "I've already done all the tests."

Vinyáya's face lit up and she suddenly burst into laughter at the picture of Captain Holly Short in a short skirt and a pink shirt.

* * *

Aren't intro chapters fun? Please review and stay tuned for more on Running Afowl


	2. Chapter 2

Here's chapter 2

* * *

"Holly," Artemis said, "are you okay?" the elf hadn't said anything for a few seconds. Artemis noticed her lips were moving, "Holly, what are you doing?"

"I'm counting," she said calmly.

"Counting what?"

"Artemis," Butler said as he walked into the room, "I understand that you wished for me not to interfere tonight. Are you sure you don't want me around?"

"Yes, Butler, you may leave," with a nod, Butler left. Artemis could have sworn he saw an amused smile on Butler's face as he turned around to leave, but he thought nothing of it, "and what are you counting?"

"Time," she said, eyes closed.

"Time? For what?"  
"It's your head start."

"What are you talking about?" Artemis said, growing annoyed at her vague responses.

"The time I was giving you to run before I make your IQ drop a few points."

"Heh," Artemis chuckled with a small smile, thinking it was a joke. When he noticed Holly was still counting under her breath his smile faded, "Crap."

Holly opened her eyes and jumped up to Artemis' eye level. Not being the most combat ready human out there, Artemis didn't think of doing one basic thing when the Elf wound up her fist…Duck.

She hit his left eye as hard as she could, knocking him to the ground, "I guess I deserved that," he said, trying to ignore the pain as he got back to his feet, hand over his eye. He noticed Holly still looked pissed, "I'm sorry," it came out sounding more like a question than he had hoped for.

"Oh, not yet," Holly said threateningly, "when I'm done getting revenge for what you did, then you'll be sorry."

"Come on, Holly," Artemis said, trying to cool her down, "it's just a skirt. How big of a deal could this possibly be?"

* * *

"Foaly," the Elf said to the centaur, "your printing job is finished."

"Perfect," Foaly said, "Can you bring it in for me?"

"Sure," the Elf reached back to his cart and handed the centaur a large, rolled up sheet of heavy paper.

"Are those blueprints for some new invention?" the elf asked—he'd always been somewhat of a technology enthusiast.

"Not quite," Foaly said as he unraveled the paper, "Ah…excellent," he walked over to a bare spot on the wall and tacked up the paper.

"Is that Captain Short's photo?" the Elf said in astonishment.

"Of course," Foaly said triumphantly.

"Don't you work with her often?"

"Yup."

"You do realize that the second she gets back, you're going to be hanging on that exact spot, right?" he motioned towards the poster.

"Not to worry. She's with the Fowl kid. I'm sure that by the time she gets back here, she'll have caused enough pain and suffering to bring her anger out on me."

* * *

"This movie better be good," Holly said as they left the Fowl mansion, "and it better not be one of those sappy romance stories."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll love it." They walked over to the garage. Artemis pulled out an electric door opener and clicked the button, remotely opening the door.

"No…no way," Holly said, "that is not happening."

Artemis walked up to the motorbike, "Why not?" he asked, tossing a helmet to Holly.

"Artemis, you are one of, if not the, least suitable people to do anything macho. And…this," she pointed to the motorbike, "is at the top of my list of things not to trust Artemis with. I still have to perform the Ritual. I don't think I have enough magic to even heal you if you do crash."

"Relax," Artemis said, putting on a helmet, "I passed the test, so how bad could I be?" he put on a studded leather jacket and waited for a response.

"You look like a jackass," Holly said as she walked up to the bike, "but I'll make you a deal. You don't crash, I forgive you for the skirt incident. But, if you crash, I don't care how injured you are, I'm going to break every remaining bone in your body."

"You've got a deal, Holly," she nodded and got on the back of the motorbike, "Um, Holly," Artemis said, noticing how, because of her height, she seemed far from safe and stable, "I don't think that's going to work."

"Artemis," she said, crossing her arms, "you've already got me wearing a skirt and riding a motorbike, don't think for a second I'm going to be sitting in front of you."

"Fine," Artemis said, "It's your choice," he smiled, "I'm glad to hear that you finally give my driving abilities the trust they deserve." With a light growl, the Elf shifted forward. Artemis placed himself behind her and leaned forward, nestling her safely between his chest and thighs. He started the bike, "Don't worry," he said over the rumbling, "I'll be sure to get you there in one piece."

* * *

When they got to the movie theatre parking lot Holly pushed Artemis back with her elbow and hopped off the bike, "Never again," she ripped off her helmet and threw it at Artemis. He just managed to catch it before it hit him, "I am never getting on…or in anything that moves if you're driving it. Especially that thing."

"Relax, we got here, didn't we?"

"Barely," she said, "Artemis, I'm not sure if the whack-job who gave you your license ever taught you this, but it's usually a good idea to stay in one lane when you're driving."

"Okay, so I may have swerved a little," he said, removing his helmet and the jacket.  
"A little?" Holly said, astounded at his level of arrogance, "What you did was not 'a little' swerving. A troll could have thrown me from her to Haven and back again, and that would have steadier than your driving."

"Come on," he said, taking her helmet, "let's go get tickets." she followed him, angry that everything that had happened so far had been nothing but trouble.

* * *

Well, there's the new chapter. I hope you enjoyed.

Please Review


	3. Chapter 3: An Omen

Here's Chapter three. Enjoy.

* * *

"That was amazing," Holly said as they exited the movie theater, "I never thought that you humans could make such an amazing movie."  
"You've read our books, though."

"Yeah. But this is different. The action…the adventure. It's so different from the media of yours that we have in Haven."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Artemis said, pleased that the three hours of war in a Dystopian world pleased her so much, "let's go," he put on the jacket and the two got on the bike.

"Artemis," Holly said as she put on her helmet, "can we make a small detour?"

"Sure, for what?"

"I need to perform the ritual during the full moon," she pointed up at the moon.

"No problem, I know just the place," he started the bike and drove off into the distance.

* * *

Artemis waited patiently by the door to his home as Holly buried the acorn in his lawn. She stood up and took a few steps toward him, "Finished?" Artemis asked.

"Yes," she said, "my magic should return shortly."  
"That's good. I feel a lot better about you being on the surface when you have your magic to fall back on."  
"Yeah," she said, "It can be a real hassle when—" she stopped mid sentence and stared blankly ahead.

"Holly, what's wrong?" Artemis said, concerned and confused at Holly's sudden stop, "Holly?" he walked forward and waved his hand in front of her large eyes. She didn't blink, "Are you okay?"

Suddenly, her eyes closed and, without a sound, she collapsed. Artemis caught her in his arms, thankful that she weighed no more than a child. He checked the pulse under her neck, thankful that it was still there. "Butler," he screamed as he carried her, with a bit of difficulty, to the front door. Butler opened the door and led him inside, shocked at Holly's unconscious form, "contact Foaly. Tell him it's an emergency."

* * *

"Artemis," Foaly said over the video-comm, "what's this about? You two didn't do anything to expose the People again. Did you?"

"No," Artemis shouted back, "Holly just finished performing the Ritual when she just collapsed."

"Collapsed?"

"Yes."

"Did she do anything strange before that happened?"

"Well. She stopped talking mid-sentence and just stood there. I have to get her to Haven. I can't take her to a hospital here."

"No, you can't." Foaly said, stroking his chin.  
"Right, so can you send a shuttle?"

"No, Artemis, you don't understand. She can't come to Haven."  
"What?" Artemis screamed in anger, "Why not? She needs help. Help that she can't get here."

"Artemis," Foaly said, staying calm and collected, "I doubt that even in your research you'd have come across this, but have you ever heard of an Omen?"

"Of course. It's an event regarded as a portent of evil."

"Well, yes. But there's another meaning. One that would have no meaning to …normal humans. An Omen is what we call an acorn that's essentially gone bad."  
"Gone bad?"

"You see. In order for a Ritual to be effective, the acorn must be at least somewhat healthy. Now, as long as an acorn is on a tree, it should be healthy and growing, correct?"  
"Right."  
"But sometimes dead acorns won't fall. And that's where you get Omens."

"Are you saying she picked an Omen off of the tree instead of an Acorn?"

"Yes."

"So what's going to happen? Is she going to…" he couldn't finish the sentence.

"No, she isn't going to die," Foaly assured, "When an Omen is used in place of an Acorn for a Ritual it does the opposite of what the Ritual should do."  
"It takes away her magic?"

"Right."  
"Then…then why can't she just perform the ritual again…with a healthy acorn?"

"Because, Artemis, an Omen doesn't simply deplete your magic. It's a disease that erases it. If you use an Omen, a ritual can't counteract its effects on ones magic. And once it fully runs its course, there is no going back. Aside from physical appearance, you become human."  
"Is there a cure?"  
"Well, that's the problem," Foaly said, "the chances of picking an Omen are so small that there haven't been enough subjects to find a cure."  
"Well, now you have one." Artemis said, "If you have her you can find the cure, right?"

"No. There's one more problem. This disease is highly contagious amongst the People. If she were to be brought back to Haven, it would be chaos. This disease was spread amongst the people centuries ago, and we barely made it out with our magic."  
"Wait, if they managed to stop the disease, there must be a cure somewhere."

"That is true, Artemis, but a few decades back a high ranking officer contracted this very disease, and we hoped to find records of the cure. But we found nothing."  
"Foaly," Artemis said, "please. Find it. Haven…the LEP…the People. They all mean so much to her. You have to find it, please," it was rare for Artemis to say please to anyone. Foaly knew that when those words came out of his mouth, Artemis was truly afraid for Holly's well-being.

"Okay," Foaly said with a sigh, "I'll do what I can. But Artemis. I need you to know, that now that this is reported, Haven will be under Lockdown. The disease may only affect Fairies, but almost all animals can be carriers. So I'll research the cure. But I need you to do something too."

"What's that?"  
"When she wakes up…it may be best for you to start teaching her how to live life as a human."

"Wait…if she's going to lose her magic, what would happen with her aging process?"

"It will become that of a human's. Based on her age as an Elf, I'd say she'd be about thirty years old if she were to lose her magic. Goodbye, Artemis," Foaly said, shutting down the video-comm.

Artemis looked back at the unconscious Holly, lying on his bed. With a sigh he turned out the light and left the room.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading.

Please Review.


	4. Chapter 4

Here's chapter 4. I hope you enjoy, this was a fun one to read.

* * *

Holly and Artemis were sitting on his bed. "I'm what?" Holly said, eye's wide in shock.

"You're losing your magic," Artemis told her, "Foaly says that you picked an Omen from the oak tree."  
"An Omen? But…a case of this disease hasn't been seen since before I was alive. I thought it had died out."  
"Apparently not."  
"What am I supposed to do," Holly cried, tears forming in her large eyes, "I've lived my entire life as an Elf, using magic to help get me through the day. And my life span--I only have about 50 years left of my life."  
"Holly," Artemis said, trying to comfort the elf, "50 years is a long time. You can still lead a fruitful life, even if it is shorter than you had expected."  
"But, Artemis, I've almost lived for twice as long. You don't understand. To you a year may be a significant fraction of your life, but to us fairies a year is nothing. How am I supposed to live when everything I had done up to this point was useless?"

"Holly, stop this. This isn't like you."

"Not like me? Let's take away everything you knew about yourself and see how YOU act."

"Stop it," Artemis yelled, surprised at the force behind his words, "I don't want to hear such a defeatist attitude coming from you. Foaly said there was a cure. You're going to be fine. After all," he smiled, "just because I can't get to Haven, doesn't mean I can't help as well. I'm going to find that cure before you lose your magic permanently if it's the last thing I do."

Holly sniffed and chuckled, "Ever the arrogant little boy, huh?"

"It's how I've managed to survive." Artemis said. The two smiled at each other.

Butler knocked on the door to Artemis' room, "Sir, we have…company."  
"Company?" Artemis repeated, "send them away, Butler. I don't have time for company."

"I don't think you understand," Butler said, "this isn't normal company, if you know what I'm saying."

"Crap," Artemis said as he stood up from the bed.

"What?" Holly asked.

"Since we've come into contact with you, Butler and I are carriers of the disease. So if any Fairies come near us they'll lose their magic." Artemis opened the door and looked down at his visitor. "Mulch?"

"Mulch?" Holly asked as she jumped off the bed, "what are you doing here?"

"Well, before Haven went into lockdown the centaur sent me a little message asking me to stop by."

"You idiot, Mulch, what were you thinking? Now that you're here you have the disease. It's going to drain you of your…"

"Bingo," Mulch said, "no magic to lose. Seeing as you won't be getting any help from your crafty equine-friend I'm your handyman."

"But, why?" Holly asked, "What do you care about me losing my magic?"

"What?" Mulch asked with a huge smile, "Isn't it my nature to help friends who are in trouble?"

"No," the three said flatly.

"How many years, Mulch?" Holly asked, wondering how many years he would get taken off his sentences for helping them.

"Well, considering the danger this little disease of your could have on the People down under, the nice bosses decided to give me a full pardon for all my crimes, excluding that incident in France."

"What incident in France?" Artemis asked.

"Well, let's just say there won't be any tourists in the Eiffel Tower for some time after I gave stinky cheese a new meaning." Artemis mentally hit himself for asking such a question when, after having worked with this dwarf on several occasions, he should have known to expect something like this to have been the reason. "But, anyway, long story short, they don't want this disease hitting Haven, so they want you to research a cure on the surface while they work on one down below."

"Great," Artemis said, "and how are you going to help?"

"Simple. I can get you in and out of any research facility, and I apparently make a pretty good lackey when that whole issues with authority think don't hinder me." The dwarf laughed at his little joke, "Oh, and this," Mulch pulled a folded piece of paper from his beard and handed it to Artemis, "the centaur forgot to mention a few things."

"Artemis," the boy read aloud, "two things I need you to remember.

1) Minimize contact between you and other animals, especially humans. While the disease dies quickly outside of the host, close contact (about 5 feet) gives it more than enough time to spread and create new carriers. Make sure that if you travel, use Mulch to get around groups of people. Also, make sure that everyone you do come in contact with is detained in a secluded place.

2) Based on my research of previous incidents we have one week to administer a cure before Holly loses her magic. While I cannot update you on my progress due to the lockdown, if I find a cure I will get it to you as soon as possible to be administered to anyone who comes into contact with you.

3) Remember, this disease is unlike anything you have ever seen as it is spread through brainwaves. It doesn't spread through the air. That being said, don't think that you can go out in public by wearing some sort of biohazard suit. Anything that has a brain will become a carrier if you get too close.

Good luck, Artemis. We're counting on you.

Signed—Foaly

"Hmm," Artemis said as he folded the note. He walked over to his desk and pulled out a digital clock. He set it to countdown from 168 hours—one week. "Mulch, I need to you dig me a path to the Fowl section of the airport."

"Where are we going?" Butler asked.

"The beech."  
"The beech?" Holly asked, "Artemis, I know your pale skin has caused you some issues on your image, but this is no time to be working on a tan."  
"Holly. You heard him. All we have is a week. Now, I have very little time to discover a cure for a disease that I know nothing about that spreads in a way that should not be possible based on everything that I have learned from Medical Textbooks. So I have to work with what little information I've got."  
"Information? What have you found out that tells you we need to go to the beech?" Holly asked.  
"He said anything with a brain is a potential carrier. So, the first thing we should look at is something that has no brain. Now, what's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of brainless?"

"Zombies?" Holly answered sarcastically.

"Wrong," Artemis said, "it's jellyfish."

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading.

Please Review.


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